International Gramsci Society Newsletter

March 1992

Number 1

Editor Joseph A. Buttigieg
Production Manager Nila Gerhold

The editor thanks the following for their generous help in preparing this issue of the lGS NEWSLETTER: Giorgio Baratta, John Cammett. Frank Rosengarten, David Ruccio, and the Fondazione Istituto Gramsci in Rome. Production of the IGS NEWSLETTER was made possible by the support of the English Department at the University of Notre Dame.

Editorial 1

Gramsci Bibliography 5

University Courses 22

Conferences 29

News From Other Organizations 35

Multimedia 38

Members' Notes 40

Loss of Two Friends 42

Forthcoming Activities 44

Editorial

The idea of forming the International Gramsci Society was inspired, in very large measure, by a desire to facilitate communication and the exchange of information among the very large number of individuals from all over the world who are interested in Gramsci's life and work and in the presence of his thought in contemporary culture. When a formal proposal to establish the IGS was presented at the concluding session of the international conference "Gramsci nel mondo" held in Formia in October 1989, it was agreed that the Society would: "Publish a bulletin once or twice a year to keep all members informed about publications, meetings, and other activities relevant to the study and the interpretation of Gramsci."
The need to publish an IGS bulletin was reaffirmed at the first public organizational meeting of the lGS which took place in New York in April 1991. On that occasion, the newly elected provisional committee charged with launching and overseeing the activities of the IGS decided that one of the highest priorities was the publication of an IGS Newsletter which will be mailed to all members of the Society.
This issue of the IGS Newsletter, being the first, is somewhat experimental in its general character, its contents, and its format. For the Newsletter to develop into an effective organ of communication which fully addresses the diverse needs of the IGS membership, its editor will have to rely heavily on suggestions, reports, announcements and other relevant communications from its readers. Therefore, everyone is strongly encouraged to send the editor information about publications, conferences, symposia, university courses, exhibits, documentaries and other activities or cultural events which might be of interest to IGS members.
In order to ensure that the IGS Newsletter reaches as broad a spectrum of readers as possible, it may prove necessary (or, at least highly desirable) to publish it in different languages. At present this is difficult to do because of the limited technical and financial resources available to the Society. Ideally, the Newsletter would be published in English, Italian, Spanish and German. For the time being the Newsletter will appear only in English, French and Italian. However, if there are members who are willing to undertake the task of translating the text of the Newsletter and have the technical facility to put the translated text onto a computer disk, then it should be possible to publish each issue in three or four different languages.

Increasing the Membership of the IGS

During the first week of October 1991, fliers (in English and Italian) containing a brief description of how the IGS was formed and of its main goals as well as an application for membership were mailed to about 300 individuals around the world. So far, over seventy individuals from various countries have joined the IGS and paid the membership fee. In addition to the membership fee, some individuals also made additional contributions to the Society. This is a good start, but obviously a greater effort needs to be made in order to enlarge the membership. For this reason, an application for membership is included in this Newsletter -- readers are encouraged to pass this on to friends and colleagues who share an interest in Gramsci. Members of the IGS could also help in another way: whenever they are organizing or attending conferences at which persons interested in Gramsci are likely to attend, they might wish to distribute copies of these fliers. Anyone wishing to have copies of these fliers could obtain them from Joseph A. Buttigieg, by writing or calling and indicating the number of copies desired in the English and/or Italian versions.
So far the largest numbers of members are from the United States and Italy. Smaller numbers of members have joined from Spain, Germany, France, Hungary, Greece, and Britain. In order for the IGS to have a truly international character a special effort needs to be made to enroll members from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East where very important and interesting work with a Gramscian imprint is being carried out -- work which, because of a lack of information and dissemination, is not receiving the attention it merits in Europe and North America. Current members of the IGS are urged to help in whatever way they can to enlarge the geographic reach and diversity of the Society.

Planning an International Conference

One of the most urgent tasks of the IGS is to make preparations for an international conference to be held some time in 1993. The conference will provide the occasion for an extensive examination of the status of Gramsci's influence in contemporary culture, the diversity of Gramscian studies, the various directions in which the interpretations and the uses of Gramsci's ideas and categories have been developing. The conference will also serve another, more practical purpose: it will bring together the members of the IGS so that they can collectively plan the work of the Society and give its organizational structure a more permanent and solid form. Currently, the activities of the IGS are being carried out by a provisional committee that was elected in April 1991. Al the international conference in 1993 this provisional committee will be dissolved; in its place, the members of the IGS will elect a General Council, an Advisory Board, and an Executive Committee.
Both the date and the place of the international conference have yet to be determined. Indeed, no decisions in this regard can be taken until the provisional committee receives the suggestions and proposals of IGS members. The first and most important thing that needs to be decided is where to hold the conference. The IGS has very limited funds and, therefore, it will have to rely on the support of some institution (a university, a research center, a cultural association, or some other entity) that is willing to host or sponsor the conference. We might also think of the possibility of making the IGS a part of another, larger, conference or convention. In choosing a site for the conference it is also very important to bear in mind the logistics of travel. The conference needs to be held at a location which is relatively easy to reach for the largest possible number of IGS members; otherwise, the high costs of travel will prevent many individuals from attending. Furthermore, the conference needs to be held in a place where local members of the IGS are willing to help with the organization, planning, and practical arrangements for the event.
Each member of the IGS is strongly urged not only to send suggestions and ideas concerning the place and dates for the conference, but also to consider seriously the possibility of taking the initiative and playing a leading role in organizing the conference. Obviously, it is important to start preparing for the conference as soon as possible in order to ensure that it can be held successfully next year.

Joseph A. Buttigieg

GRAMSCI BIBLIOGRAPHY

The most valuable instrument anyone engaged in any form of research can have is a comprehensive bibliography. The recent publication of John Cammett's Bibliografia Gramsciana (Rome: Editori Riuniti, 1991) provides whoever is interested in any aspect of Gramsci with the necessary information for gaining access to the wealth of published material that already exists dealing with his life, work, ideas, etc. This bibliography will prove useful not only to Gramsci scholars but also to those engaged in the study of certain aspects of political theory, Italian history, cultural analysis, literary criticism, Marxist thought, and so on. Cammett is continuing to supplement his published bibliography. The IGS Newsletter will regularly publish parts of these supplements, namely a list of all the new books and special issues of periodicals dealing with Gramsci. More comprehensive supplements (which include individual articles and essays) will be available to all IGS members directly from John Cammett. This bibliographic section of the Newsletter will undoubtedly prove very useful to Gramsci readers and scholars. It will be a regular feature of the Newsletter and all readers are encouraged to submit relevant materials for inclusion in future issues.

A Brief Introduction to the Nature and the Use of the Bibliografia Gramsciana, 1922-1988

by John M. Cammett
Most of you are aware of the publication of this bibliography in mid-l991 in the form of the «Annali 1989» of the Fondazione Istituto Gramsci (Rome: Editori Riuniti, 1991. Pp. xxiii-457. Lire 75,000). Four or five years ago, when I began working on this project, I had no idea that it would become such a large enterprise: nearly 500 pages with 7061 entries in 28 languages! This is the reason why we felt it necessary to offer this brief introduction in English to the nature and use of the bibliography.
The printed order of the bibliography is alphabetical by the names of authors. There are, however, two exceptions to this order and both occur at the very beginning. Anonymous authors are indicated by two asterisks("**"), numbers 1 through 181; the series of collective edited works are introduced by the alphabetized titles of the works themselves (numbers 182 through 264). We might easily have immersed both of these series in the more general alphabetical order; however, we chose not to do so because there are some advantages in the system which we finally adopted. The 181 anonymous entries are listed chronologically which surely makes them much less difficult to find. It is probably also easier to find the collective works on Gramsci when they are listed as a group.
Of course, the entire bibliography, since it is computerized, might have been presented in a variety of other modes: by year of publication, by the language of the entries, or even by themes or topics. But none of these alternatives are comparable in ease of consultation with a bibliography organized by the names of authors. Furthermore, the essential information provided by those options can readily be provided in much more succinct ways.
This is what we have tried to do with the Appendices. Our first aim was to supply as much useful organized information as possible from the printed records themselves; the second was to indicate, if only implicitly, some strategies for future research so that the next edition of the bibliography will be more complete and accurate.
The first appendix (pp. 413-19) contains the Index of Languages. This lists under the name of each language the specific entry numbers which were published in that language. Italian, with its 4323 entries, has been excluded since that number represents 61% of the total! The 2738 non-Italian entries in the bibliography are thus 39% of the total. Of these, 909, or about 13% were published in the English language. Indeed, our work in the collecting of foreign language contributions is far from complete. What is there was done through a combination of the use of electronic databases and old-fashioned correspondence with interested persons in many countries. Some languages are already well-represented such as French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, and the languages of Yugoslavia. But more work needs to be done on the Spanish and Portuguese entries, and there are vast lacunae in the Eastern European languages of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. Large gaps exist in the entries for Scandinavia and the Netherlands. Last but certainly not least, we have very little in the many languages of Africa and Asia. We hope and trust that these lacunae will be eliminated in the forthcoming supplements to this bibliography. We are relying on Gramsci specialists in all countries to send their publications and bibliographies to the Fondazione Istituto Gramsci in Rome. Bibliographic information can also be sent directly to the editor [John M. Cammett; 905 West End Ave., New York, N.Y., USA, 10025].
Meanwhile, in the Index of Languages all contributions (except those in Italian) are listed by number according to the language of publication. It takes only a few minutes for those interested in a particular language to check that list for accuracy and completeness.
The second appendix (pp. 421-34) is the Index of Years, that is of the years in which the separate entries were published. Page 422, called in Italian "Occorrenze," summarizes the annual "productivity" of publications on Gramsci. It seems to us that much can be learned, or confirmed, from these figures. The record shows that before 1937, Gramsci remained relatively unknown to the international Communist movement and even to many members of his own party. Prior to that year, he was referred to in only 44 publications (in this connection, cf. number 24, entitled Gramsci ritrovato, 1937-1947, in the list of recent books published in this Newsletter). There were many reasons for this relative obscurity, including Gramsci's own personal reticence. But the power and lasting effect of his personality and leadership did become evident in the many publications which immediately followed his death -- there were 75 published in 1937 and 1938. Since then, Gramsci's early influence has been repeatedly confirmed in the several hundreds of "testimonials" which continue to be published up to the present (See the listings under "Memoirs" in the Index of Subjects).
The hiatus of World War II -- we find only nine entries between 1939 and 1944 -- was soon followed by the publication of the Lettere dal carcere and the Quaderni del carcere. The singularity of this enterprise is too little appreciated. No other Communist Party of the time, apart from the PCI, had the courage and foresight to undertake a project of this kind. For it was clear even then that these publications represented a new investigation of Marxism and its application to the past and present. From 1947 through 1953, there was an average of more than fifty publications a year on Gramsci. Thus it is clear that his national and international fame began in those years.
The next quantitative change, a true and proper "breakthrough," occurred in 1966. From then on, the "annual production" never fell below 135, and was usually much higher. Special attention ought to be given to these and other rather abrupt changes which surely involve the interplay of a great many political, social, economic, and cultural factors. A similar and nearly equally dramatic increase occurred in 1974. From then through the rest of the decade and into 1981, more than 200 entries a year appear. This substantial increase is probably related in several ways to the electoral successes of the PCI during that time. In the rest of the '80s, through 1986, there was some decline to an average of about 150 per year. In conclusion, we cannot fail to highlight the extraordinary production of the years 1977 and 1987, marking respectively the 40th and 50th anniversaries of Gramsci's death. For those years we have a total of 1275 publications, more than 18% of the entire bibliography! To facilitate quantitative studies of annual and multiannual production as well as qualitative studies of changing themes and focuses of research, we have included lists by year and entry number of all the contributions through 1988 (see pp. 423-34).
The Index of Subjects is an indispensable addition to the bibliography. Without it, we have little more than an author-alphabetized list of publications. With it, we have the means to begin scholarly research on a great variety of subjects. Of course, this feature too has its weaknesses as well as strengths. Not all the entries have been indexed with equal care. In many cases, the publications themselves were not available at the time of indexing. In other cases, some of the more general keywords were overused: Councils, Hegemony, Intellectuals, and Literature are examples. Perhaps its greatest value lies in its inclusion of specific individuals and events which are dealt with in the entries -- e.g. Dante, Rosa Luxemburg, and the Svolta del 1930.
(I had actually included dozens of other names in the Index. My editors in Rome, however, decided that because many specific references were not as inclusive as they should have been, in most cases only general terms were to be included. I understand their concern, but also feel that some of the usefulness of the index was lost in that decision. Our publishing schedule left no time to debate the question. I had also hoped to include an Index of Place Names. But during the period of last minute changes I had no time to eliminate a basic ambiguity in that list: that between (a) "place" as the country, region, or city of publication and (b) "place" as the subject of the publication. Since then (but obviously too late), I have eliminated the ambiguity. It is a shame that I did not resolve the problem earlier because the inclusion of such terms as Sardinia, Ghilarza, Turin, and Vienna would have greatly enhanced the value of the Index. Perhaps I could publish this separately, along with a more detailed Index of Subjects, either as a pamphlet or in a future issue of the IGS Newsletter.
A few of the names-subjects in the Index require some explanation. The category Memoirs consists of testimonials, comments by an editor on separately published letters and articles by Gramsci, and other primary or quasi-primary sources for his life and thought. Although there are more than 400 items listed in this rubric, we are convinced that Memoirs constitutes one of the most useful features of this bibliography. It should be used in connection with another category, that of PCd'I, which contains references to publications concentrating more on the history of his party up to the time of his death than on the life and work of the man himself.
I should like to close by restating that this bibliography does not include works by Gramsci himself, whether in Italian or in translation. It does, however, include as often as possible the prefaces and introductions by other persons to those works. II also does not include any writings on Gramsci's life and thought published after l988. This very issue of the IGS Newsletter does contain an annotated list of books and collections of articles on Gramsci published from 1989 to 1991.

Books and Collections of Articles on Antonio Gramsci

Published from 1989 through 1991

by John M. Cammett
A large number of very important books on Gramsci have appeared since the last year (1988) covered by the Bibliografia gramsciana. They have greatly increased our knowledge of Gramsci's personal and political life both before and during his imprisonment (cf. esp. numbers 6, 13, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, and 29 below). We also have several very recent publications of Gramsci's writings both in ltalian and in translation.
The critical edition of Gramsci's preprison letters has appeared very recently in Italy: Lettere: 1908-1926. Edited by Antonio Santucci. Torino: Einaudi, 1992. This volume is an extremely important addition to the corpus of Gramscian texts; it contains a number of previously unpublished letters as well as a valuable critical apparatus. A selection of these letters has been published in German translation: Antonio Gramsci: Briefe 1908-1926. Eine Auswahl. Edited by Antonio Santucci. Europa-Verlag, 1991. Santucci's edition of the preprison letters has generated a great deal of interest in Italy; the weekly review Panorama (16 Feb. 1992) carried a four-page report on the book.
The 1975 critical edition of the Quaderni del carcere (edited by V. Gerratana) is also being translated into German and the first two volumes have already been published: Gefängnis Hefte. Vols. 1 & 2. Edited by Klaus Bochmann with an Introduction by Wolfgang Fritz Haug. Hamburg: Argument, l991. This edition is projected to appear in 10 volumes.
The third volume of the French critical edition of the Quaderni was published last year: Cahiers de prison. Cahiers 14, 15,16, 17 et 18. Edited by Robert Paris. Paris: Gallimard, 1991. The two previously published volumes of this edition contain Notebooks 6-9 and Notebooks 10- 13. Two more volumes are being planned, one will include Notebooks 1-5 and the other Notebooks 19-29.
A number of English translations and editions of Gramsci's writings have appeared in the past few years:
An Antonio Gramsci Reader: Selected Writings, 1916-1935. Edited by David Forgacs. New York: Schocken Books, 1989. Pp. 446. This is the first substantial one-volume collection of Gramsci's writings from both the Quaderni and the preprison years. The general introduction as well as the shorter introductions at the start of each section are useful and important.
The University of Minnesota Press has recently reprinted the English editions of Gramsci's preprison writings: Selections from Political Writings 1910-1920 and Selections from Political Writings 1921-1926. Lynne Lawner's fine 1973 English edition of many of Gramsci's Letters from Prison was reissued in 1989 by The Noonday Press (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Another somewhat more comprehensive, though perhaps less annotated edition, was published in England in late 1988: Gramsci's Prison Letters, trans. and introduced by Hamish Henderson. London: Zwan (in association with Edinburgh Review). Meanwhile, Frank Rosengarten is preparing a complete critical edition in English of the Prison Letters, to be published by the Columbia University Press (translator: Raymond Rosenthal).
Last, but surely not least, we now have the first volume of the complete critical edition in English of the Quaderni del carcere. This is Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks. Volume 1. Edited with an Introduction by Joseph A. Buttigieg. Translated by Joseph A. Buttigieg and Antonio Callari. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Pp.xxiii-608. The Introduction (pp. 1-64) is itself a work of excellent scholarship. This first volume includes only the first two Notebooks because so much scholarly addenda was necessary for the first volume. I am certain that when the other volumes are completed, Gramsci's solid position as a leading figure in world culture in the late twentieth century will be fully confirmed and enhanced.
For the next Newsletter we are gathering information on the state/progress of translations of Gramsci into other languages.

The List of Recent Works on Gramsci

  • 1. «Cent'anni dopo: numero speciale su Gramsci». Emigrazione, XXIII, 89 (August-September, l991), pp.98. [Articles by G. Baratta, C. Bermani, J. Buttigieg, U. Cardia, A. Catone, F. Coggiola, F. Darraj, E. Fattorini, G. Fiori, D. Fo, V. Gerratana, W. Glinga, A. Natoli, M. Paulesu, M.L. Righi, R. Rossanda, B. Santhià, S.Tagliagambe, G. Trombetti, G. Vacca and G. Volpe. [Ital.l
  • 2. Die 'Linie Luxemburg-Gramsci'. Zur Aktualität marxistischen Denkens. Argument-Sonderband AS 159. Hamburg & Berlin: Argument Verlag, 1989. Pp. l48. [The Acts of the Hamburg Conference of 1985 on Gramsci and Luxemburg.] [Ger.]
  • 3. Gramsci e il marxismo contemporaneo. Relazioni al convegno organizzato dal Centro Mario Rossi, Siena, 27-30 aprile, 1987. Edited by Biagio Muscatello. Rome: Editori Riuniti, l990. Pp. viii-406. [Contributions by N. Badaloni, J. Bidet, A. Davidson, L.O. Ferreyra, A. García Barceló, V. Gerratana. S. KrzémiénOjak, G. Labica, E.H. Logiudice, D. Losurdo, M. Löwy, M. Martelli, Ar. Münster, A. Negri, JP. Potier, G. Prestipino, A.S.Vázquez, N. Tertulian, J. Texier, A. Tosel.] (A very interesting collection. Includes essays on G.'s basic concepts, including the economic, as well as material on Gramscian studies abroad. The Editori Riuniti have still to publish the proceedings of other important congresses such as those of Rome in 1987 and, above all, Formia in 1989. Numbers 4, 6, and 7 of this list also consist of the publication of acts of Gramscian congresses held in 1987.) [Ital.]
  • 4. Gramsci e l' Occidente: Trasformazioni della società riforma della politica. Edited by Walter Tega. Bologna: Cappelli,l990. Pp. 260. [Proceedings of the International Meeting held at Bologna from September 9 to 11, 1987, by The Ist. Gramsci EmiliaRomagna, the Fondazione Gramsci of Rome, and the Leadership of the PCI. Includes articles by G. Chiarante, N. Badaloni, R. Zangheri, W. Adamson, P. Spriano, L. Canfora, R. Orfei, U. Cerroni, Mario Telò, P. Glotz, J. Diggins, M. Bovero, I. Fetscher. G.E. Rusconi. G. Ferrara, and R. Medici.] [Ital.]
  • 5. «Le radici: Omaggio ad Antonio Gramsci nel centenario della nascita». Rinascita sarda, I (January, l991), pp.96 + 20. [Articles, reprints and information by A. Occhetto, N. Jotti, S. Cherchi, M. Birardi, U.Cardia, P. Togliatti, E. Berlinguer, P. Ingrao, R. Laconi, G. Sotgiu. N. Bobbio. A. Pigliaru, A. Natta, P. Branca, E. Sanna, G. Macciotta, G. Fiori, P.S. Scano, F. Cocco, E. Orrù, M. Sedda, L. Marrocu, A. Granese, S . Cardia, S. Fiori, C. Podda, G. Melis, M. Dadea l [Ital.l
  • 6. Le tesi di Lione: Riflessioni su Gramsci e la storia d'ltalia. L. Cafagna R. Martinelli C. Natoli S. Scarnuzzi C. Vivanti e la pubblicazione integrale di "Le Tesi di Lione." Fondazione Feltrinelli Quadern/39. Milan: Franco Angeli, 1990. Pp. 275. ["This Quaderno contains the materials presented in the course of the seminar on 'Le Tesi di Lione. Riflessioni su Antonio Gramsci e la storia d'ltalia' held at Cortona on November 1314, 1987."
  • The papers by Martinelli, Natoli and Vivanti have already appeared in respectively: Critica marxista, n.34, 1988, pp. 175-97; Passato e presente, n.17, 1988, pp.137-57; and Studi Storici n. l, 1988, pp. 519.
  • The best known of the documents of the party majority at Lyons, "Le Tesi sulla situazione politica italiana," was partially published in L'Unità before the Congress, and was afterwards republished several times (See for example, A. Gramsci, La costruzione del Partito comunista 1923-1926. Turin: Einaudi, 1971). The other theses presented by the majoriy are fully published here for the first time. They are: "1. Tesi sulla situazione internazionale, " pp.109-135; "II. Tesi per il lavoro nazionale e coloniale," pp.135-50; "III. Tesi agrarie," pp. 150-71; "IV. Progetto di tesi politiche," pp.171-207; and "Progetto di tesi sindacali," pp. 207-27.
  • The theses of Bordiga's party minority (pp. 229-75), also published in L'Unità before the Congress, were taken from the collection of documents in difesa della continuità del Programma comunista (Milan, 1970).] [Ital.]
  • 7. Modern Times: Gramsci e la critica dell'americanismo. Edited by Giorgio Baratta and Andrea Catone. Atti del Convegno Internazionale organizzato dal Centro di Iniziativa Politica e Culturale di Roma in collaborazione con l'Amministrazione provinciale di Roma. Roma 20-22 novembre 1987. Milan: Cooperativa Diffusioni '84, 1989. Pp. 487. [Essays and contributions by D. Jervolino, M.A. Sartori, G. Baratta, A. Catone, P. Richetto, A. Showstack Sassoon, L. Knapp, J. Buttigieg, G. Iacchini, M. Carazzi, JP. Potier, F. Frosini, C. Pala, M.A. Manacorda, J. Texier, R. Finelli, P. Ferraris, C. Riechers, A. Tosel, W.F. Haug, S. Kebir, A. Demirovic, F.S. Festa, R. Caputo, G. Vacca, U. Cardia, T. Szabó, E. Said, C. West, W. Glinga, O. Fernández Díaz, J. Ramos Regidor, A. Sajo, R. Mordenti, G. D'Agostino, G. Girardi, L. Cortesi, A. Santucci, C. Preve.] [ltal.]
  • 8. «Schwerpunkt: Antonio Gramsci». Zibaldone: Zeitschift für italienische Kultur der Gegenwart, 11 (May, 1991), pp. 5-76. [Articles by A. Patrucco Becchi,
  • G. Baratta, J. Borek, B. Wagner, L. Borghese, R. Martinelli.] [Ger.l
  • 9. Utopie und Zivilgesellschaft. Rekonstruktionen, Thesen und Informationen zu Antonio Gramsci. Edited by Uwe Hirschfeld and Werner Rügemer. Berlin: Elefanten Press - Edition Sonntag, 1990. Pp. 218. [Essays and contributions by U. Hirschfeld, G. Sotgiu, A. Bühl, H. Thoma, F. Frosini, J. J. Korff, S. PuntscherRiekmann, B. Wagner, S. Kebir, E. Högemann, G. Baratta, H. Melber, J. Buttigieg.] [Ger.]
  • 10. Bobbio, Norberto. Saggi su Gramsci. Milan: Feltrinelli, l990. Pp. 125. [The first part of this volume (pp. 7-70) was published in Bobbio's Gramsci e la concezione della società civile. (Milan: Feltrinelli, 1976).
  • The second part and the Appendix were published as separate articles. They are respectively numbers 918, 932, 910, 930, and 908 in the general bibliography.] [Ital.]
  • 11. Coutinho, Carlos Nelson. Gramsci. Um estudo sobre o seu pensamento político. Rio de Janiero: Campus, 1989. Pp. 142. [Port.]
  • 12. Dombroski, Robert S. Antonio Gramsci. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1989. Pp. XIX-147. [A general introduction to Gramsci's thinking on literature which the author views as "original" and holding "much that is still valuable."] [Eng.l
  • 13. Fiori, Giuseppe. Gramsci Togliatti Stalin. Bari: Laterza,1991. Pp. 205. [The first two essays emphasize the relations between Gramsci just before and during his imprisonment, and Togliatti and Stalin. The third deals with his "Sardism" and "federalism."] [Ital.]
  • 14. Fondazione Istituto Gramsci. Antonio Gramsci nella biblioteca della Fondazione. A cura di Dario Massimi, Cinzia Salvi, Massimo Canario, Gabriele D'Autilia. Rome: Fotosatz snc di R.Mattia, 1989. Pp. 102. [Part I contains 223 listings of editions of Gramsci in many languages. (This is probably the only publication which has even attempted this difficult task.); Part II, numbers 224 to 522, lists books on Gramsci in many languages. All are in the holdings of the library of the Fondazione.] [ltal.]
  • 15. Germino, Dante. Antonio Gramsci: Architect of a New Politics. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University, 1990. Pp. xxii-270. [An interesting attempt to understand Gramsci's unique contributions by dealing with his life and thought as a whole.] [Eng.]
  • 16. Hobsbawm, Eric J. Echoes of the Marseillaise. Two Centuries Look Back on the French Revolution. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press, 1990. Pp. xv-144. [The Appendix, pp. 115-120, consists of several pages on Gramsci's notes on the role of the Jacobins (taken from Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1971, pp. 77-83.)] [Eng.]
  • 17. Kebir, Sabine. Antonio Gramscis Zivilgesellschaft. Hamburg: VSA-Verlag, l991. Pp. 255. [A thorough historical and philosophical analysis of Gramsci's concept of"civil society."]
  • 18. Lajolo, Laurana. Volontà di futuro. Rilettura attuale di Gramsci. Rome: Edizioni Associate, 1989. Pp. 134. [Emphasis on the "actuality" of Gramsci with regard to the connection between culture and politics, education & revolution, his relationship to Stalinism, and that of the present crisis of the Left.] [ltal.]
  • 19. Medici, Rita. La metafora Machiavelli: Mosca, Pareto, Michels, Gramsci. Modena: Mucchi editore, 1990. Pp. 277. [Gramsci as the true heir, both in reality and metaphorically, of the Machiavellian tradition.] [Ital.]
  • 20. Mezones,Carlos. Cultura y Sociedad civil en Gramsci. Prólogo de Moisés Moleiro. Venezuela: Los Teques, 1991. Pp. 152. [Span.]
  • 21. Montanari, Marcello. La libertà e il tempo. Osservazioni sulla democrazia tra Marx e Gramsci. Rome: Editori Riuniti, l991. Pp.xi-117. [The close connection between labor time and democracy; Gramsci in the context of Hegel and Croce] [ltal.l
  • 22. Morera, Esteve. Gramsci's Historicism: A Realist Interpretation. London & New York: Routledge, 1990. Pp. vi-237. [Historicism as a central concept of G.'s thought. The term is discussed in four of its aspects: as transience, as historical necessity, as realism, and as humanism.] [Eng.]
  • 23. Natoli, Aldo. Antigone e il prigioniero. Tania Schucht lotta per la vita di Gramsci. Rome: Editori Riuniti, l990. Pp.xii-297. [A study of Tania Schucht's role in G.'s life while in prison. This is the first work based on the 652 letters and post cards sent by Tania to G. More than half of the 456 published letters of Gramsci himself from prison were sent to her. Essential to the understanding of so many aspects of G.'s prison life.] [Ital.]
  • 24. Paulesu Quercioli, Mimma. Le donne di Casa Gramsci. Rome: Editori Riuniti, 1991. Pp. 173. [A reconstruction of the life of Gramsci's family in Ghilarza and elsewhere. Based on extensive conespondence. Cf. also the remarkable letter on pp. 116-17 sent by Bordiga to Gramsci's mother in 1927.] [Ital.]
  • 25. Pistillo, Michele. Gramsci come Moro? Manduria-BariRome: Piero Lacaita editore, 1989. Pp. 155. [Esp. in the years from 1988 through 1991, a polemic raged in Italy over the relationship of the PCd'I and Gramsci from 1926 to 1937. This work is one of the most effective defenses of the role of the Party in those years. Pistillo has told us that a new and more inclusive edition will soon appear.]) [ltal.l
  • 26. Potier, Jean-Pierre. Piero Sraffa. Biografia. Prefazione e traduzione di Antonio A. Santucci. French original, 1987. Rome: Editori Riuniti, 1990. Pp. xii-57. [A splendid little book which finally illuminates both the dazzling influence of Sraffa the Cambridge intellectual and his "secret life" as the sustainer of Cramsci and friend of Palmiro Togliatti.] [Ital.]
  • 27. Santarelli, Enzo, ed. Gramsci ritrovato, 1937-1947. Scritti di Angelo Tasca, Carlo Rosselli, Palmiro Togliatti, Ruggero Grieco, Mario Montagnana, Eugenio Curiel, Leo Valiani, Guido Dorso, Augusto Livi, Romain Rolland, Mario Garuglieri, Luigi Russo, Guido Miglioli, Emilio Lussu, Umberto Calosso, Lucio Libertini, Umberto Morra, Giacomo Debenedetti, Benedetto Croce, Leonida Répaci, Carlo Bo, Mario Albertini, Carlo Muscetta, Felice Balbo. Catanzaro: Abramo editore, 1991. Pp. 314. The articles in this collection are listed as the following numbers in the Bibliografia gramsciana 1922-1988: Tasca (6387), Rosselli (5443), Togliatti (6512 & 6515), Grieco (2832), Montagnana (4290), Valiani (6740), Dorso (2058), Livi (3636), Rolland (5381 & 5386), Garuglieri (2579), Russo (5478), Miglioli (4207), Morra (4334), Debenedetti (1904), Croce (1712), Repaci (5315), Bo (895), Albertini (335), Muscetta (4375 & 4376), and Balbo (638).
  • The articles by Curiel, Lussu, Calosso, and Libertini were not included in the Bibilografia gramsciana 1922-1988. [A thoughtful compilation of some of the publications from G.'s death in 1937 to the publication of the Lettere dal carcere in 1947 which established the basis for Gramsci's future importance in Italy and abroad.] [ltal.l
  • 28. Schucht, Tatiana. Lettere ai familiari. Prefazione di Giuliano Gramsci. Introduzione e cura di Mimma Paulesu Quercioli. Rome: Editori Riuniti, 1991. Pp. xxxii-257. [In addition to the letters of Tatiana to Gramsci contained and interpreted in Natoli's book-cf. #23 above-we now have these 189 letters. She sent sixty of them to Gramsci's family in Sardinia and the other 129 to her own family in Moscow.] [Itall
  • 29. Sraffa, Piero. Lettere a Tania per Gramsci. Introduzione e cura di Valentino Gerratana. Rome: Editori Riuniti, 1991. Pp. Iv274. [This fascinating book reveals a great deal more on the "secret life" of Sraffa (cf. #26). These nearly 80 letters-plus others from Tania to Sraffa-are "really letters to Gramsci just as a great part of G.'s letters to Tania were also to Sraffa."] [Ital.]
  • 30. Szabó, Tibor. Gramsci Politikai Filozófiája. Szeged, 1991. Pp. 166. [Pp. 161-66. written in Italian, recount the fortunes of Gramscian studies in Hungarian and summarize the main points of this book.] [Hung.l
  • 31. Tavares de Jesus, Antonio. Educaçao e hegemonia no pensamento de Antonio Gramsci. Sao Paulo: Cortez, 1989. Pp. 132. [Port.]
  • 32. Vacca, Giuseppe. Gramsci e Togliatti. Rome: Editori Riuniti, 1991. Pp. xxxvii-241. [These important essays are among the first attempts to relate the teachings of Gramsci and Togliatti to the immediate future of the Italian and European Left.] [Ital.l
  • After this bibliography went to print John Cammett received from Professor Irina Grigorieva a list of 60 items on Gramsci published in Russian. This bibliographic list will be published in the next issue of the IGS Newsletter.
  • The Quaderni del carcere in Machine-Readable Form

    At the Conference of Gramscian Studies held in Pavia in October of 1991, Dario Ragazzini of the University of Florence gave a paper on the state of this project. He and Renzo Martinelli, also of the Univ. of Florence, have just completed the "computerization" of the entire body of Gramsci's Quaderni del carcere. This will make it possible to make a thorough linguistic analysis of the Quaderni. Once the electronic data have been put on a CDROM and are read with the appropriate software it will be possible in a few moments for any of us to find and list (even in context!) every occurrence of any word or phrase used by Gramsci.
    In fact, Ragazzini has already done some of this, as he has informed us in his paper. He begins by describing some of the technical problems in creating the "electronic" Quaderni, and then reveals some of his fascinating results. There are, he avows, 36,500 different words in the Quaderni which in all their reoccurrences come to a total of 788,509! To give us an idea of the frequencies, he says that the word "philosophy" occurs 1343 times, but that in all the forms of the root of the word, such as "philosophic," "philosopher," etc., it occurs 2016 times.
    To me, the most fascinating initial results of the work of Ragazzini-Martinelli is the early identification of a series of words which are typical of what I would call Gramsci's "problematic mindset" -- words which indicate, in Ragazzini's expression, his "complex, dynamic and conflictual" approach to political reality. Please permit me to quote (per forza in italiano) the relevant three paragraphs of Ragazzini's report on only those most frequently used words (the numbers indicate the frequency) which illustrate this most illuminating aspect of Gramsci's way of thought:
    quistione(780), quistioni (258), questione (31), questioni (13), problema (527), problemi (294) e poi concezione (721), concezioni (119), concetto (453), concetti (l49), critica (610) ecc., teoria (360), teorie (91), teorico ecc., analisi (201) ecc., giudizio (195), critico (159) ecc., interpretazione (150), inierpretazioni (49), ecc.
    parte (1084), parti (80), forma (773), forme (321), tipo (669), tipi (98), carattere (637), caratteri (99) e tutte le forme di caratteristico e caratterizzare, elementi (635), elemento (611), funzione (582), funzioni (85), rapporti (469), rapporto (351), caso (447), casi (61), importanza (440), importante (191), ecc., condizioni (371), condizione (53), esempio (358), esempi (33), esamplare ecc., sistema(288), sistemi (68), sistematico ecc., aspetto (223), aspetti (144), fenomeno (209), fenomeni (98), complesso (202), complessi ecc., fondamentale (168), fondamentali (124), equilibrio (165) differenza (134), differenze (41), ecc., epoca (131), ecc. causa (123), cause (98} ecc., gruppo (515), gruppi (350), strati (123), strato (91), organismo (121), essenziale (116), essenziali (59), particolare (205), particolari (110).
    attività (734) e poi attivo, attivi, attivamente ecc., guerra (726), guerre (90), forze (709), forza (525), sviluppo (642), sviluppi (39) e tutte le forme del verbo sviluppare, movimento (584), movimenti (150), azione (529), azioni (61), lotta (527), lotte (118), crisi (385), processo (373), processi (37), processuale ecc., necessità (344), necessario (206), necessaria (139), necessariamente (112), ecc., origine (306), origini (131), volontà (288), ecc., fase (284), fasi (65), tendenza (246), tendenze (187), ecc., grado (201), ecc., iniziativa (180), iniziative (73), correnti (163), corrente (128), possibile (273), possibilità (156), soluzione (139), soluzioni (42), progresso (133), ecc., indirizzo (114), influsso (114), contrasto (112).
    These are among the most commonly used words by Gramsci. But more important, "substantially only these accompany Gramsci's typical themes and concepts (such as the intellectuals and hegemony)." I intend to translate and publish Ragazzini's report in the near future. It is our hope that this will not only stimulate further reflection on the meaning of the Quaderni, but also help us to find a publisher-distributor of the CDROM and its accompanying hard copy.
    Most recently, Ms. Annelies Hoogscarspel of the Center for Electronic Texts in the Humanities (Rutgers University) has supplied me with a list of possible and appropriate CDRom publishers. We also welcome suggestions on this matter from any of our readers.

    John M. Cammett

    P.S. The full text of Dario Ragazzini's report will bc published (in Italian) in the Atti of the Pavia conference where it was originally presented. Ragazzini is currently engaged in an effort to publish the results of his project. Apart from making available the text of the Quaderni on CDROM he wishes to publish a volume which will include all the information on the distribution of words in the Gramscian Iexicon. Anyone who is interested in this project or who would like to have the complete text of Ragazzini's report is encouraged to contact: Dario Ragazzini, Borgo S. Frediano 85, 50124 Firenze (Tel. 055/ 2280172).

    Other plans for a Gramscian Lexicon and an anthology of Gramsci's writings

    A group of scholars coordinated by Domenico Losurdo and comprising Giorgio Baratta, Valentino Gerratana and Giuseppe Prestipino have obtained a grant from the Italian Ministry for the Universities and Scientific Research to support their research which is aimed at producing a comprehensive Gramscian Lexicon and a critical anthology (in Italian) of Gramsci's writings. The first phase of the lexical project should result in an extension and amplification of the thematic index of the Quaderni currently available in Gerratana's critical edition. It is believed that when the project progresses to a more advanced stage it will be necessary to produce a computerized version of Gramsci's text.

    Book Discounts

    The IGS has made arrangements with the Editori Riuniti that will permit its members to obtain a 50% discount when purchasing a copy of John Cammett's Bibliografia Gramsciana. The regular price of the volume is 75,000 Lire. However, IGS members may obtain a copy for only 37,500 Lire (or $30) by ordering directly from the publisher (who has been supplied with our membership list). The address is: Editori Riuniti, via del Tritone 61/62, 00187 Rome. (Tel.: (06)6991300/ln; Fax.: (06) 6781458)
    A limited number of hardbound copies of Valentino Gerratana's four-volume critical edition of the Quaderni del carcere (Einaudi, 1977) are available at the greatly discounted price of 90,000 Lire (or $70). These can be obtained by writing to Ciorgio Baratta, Pz. 1. Nievo 5, 00153 Roma.
    John Cammett has prepared a substantial supplement to his Bibliografia Gramsciana. This ninety-page supplement includes a set of indexes which would enable the user to identify the items listed not only by author and subject but also by year of publication and languages of publication. Bound copies of a special provisional edition of this supplement are being made available exclusively to IGS members. If you wish to have a copy, send $8.00 to John Cammett, 905 West End Avenue. New York, New York 10025.

    University Courses: Studying Gramsci

    In many universities Cramsci continues to attract the attention of faculty members and students specializing in various disciplines. Courses are being designed and taught which are devoted entirely to an examination of Gramsci's work or in which Cramsci's ideas and categories figure very prominently. In Spring, 1990, John Cammett gave one in the Department of Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York; during this very semester (Spring, 1992), Kate Crehan is giving another in the Anthropology Department of the New School in New York. Descriptions of such courses are being sought for publication in the Newsletter. Members of the IGS may also wish to contribute their reflections on the general topic of Cramsci's presence in pedagogicalacademic contexts. It would likewise be interesting to hear from students who are writing doctoral theses which deal with Cramsci.
  • A. Professor Herbert Reid of the Political Science Department at the University of Kentucky (U.S.A.) has taught a number of courses dealing with Gramsci's ideas. The following is a description of a seminar he conducted during the Fall semester of 1990.
  • Seminar in Contemporary Political Theory: Antonio Gramsci and AngloAmerican Ideas.
  • This course will focus on and take as its point of departure the political thought of Antonio Gramsci, especially as reflected in his famous prison notebooks. This Italian Marxist helped to found the Communist party in Italy. Yet, he is widely regarded as "the greatest of western Marxists," to use Tom Nairn's words. In short, he took up Leninism but went beyond it to contribute to a critical, democratic tradition of socialist theory that sometimes is called Western Marxism. His significance in this context lies in his unique attempt to develop a philosophy of praxis out of a philosophy of history. Nairn, nevertheless, stresses the national context of Gramsci's political theory and his confrontation with the "Italian catastrophe." Yet, Nairn's skepticism about what can be distilled out of his work "as abstract political theory or revolutionary strategy" is leavened by the counsel lo follow "Gramsci's example within one's own society, employing the innumerable clues and inspirations of the Prison Notebooks to do so." This key problematic of the Gramsci legacy is one of the questions lo be explored in this seminar. The current work of American theorists such as Aronowitz, Boggs, Boyle, Cocks, Epstein, and Evans offers one milieu illustrating the Gramsci reception in the Englishspeaking world which is, as Geoff Eley has put it, "one of the more remarkable intellectual phenomena of the 1970s."
  • Three or four areas of the influence of Gramscian ideas in the past 20 years will be of chief concern. There has been a rethinking of socialist political theories and strategies including some particularly interesting ideas about democracy and the problem of "transition"; about the new social movements and the problem of "class"; and about intellectuals and the problem of "professionalism." We have seen the development of a critical cultural studies movement with new theories of media and mass communication based upon a recognition of Gramsci's concept of hegemony as "one of the major turning points in Marxist cultural theory" (Williams). In the AngloAmerican context, the current work of Stuart Hall, Raymond Williams, George Lipsitz, and Todd Gitlin is exemplary and blends interestingly with another sphere of Gramscian influence, the field of "social history." Eugene Genovese has been joined by a number of scholars including Alan Dawley, Jackson Lears, and Leon Fink to promote a rethinking of American history forging new analyses of class, gender, labor, community, and culture. In all of these areas, controversy and debate have abounded, for orthodox notions such as class and culture have not lacked defense from opposite poles of the ideological spectrum. While these polemics will have our attention, more interest will be given to the possibility of Gramsci's contribution to a new post-Marxist theory oriented in terms of socialist pluralism, ecology, feminism, and related concerns. Our aim will be to evaluate the claim of two political theorists (Piccone & Cavalcanti) that Gramsci "provides one of the few meaningful models on the basis of which the emancipatory heritage of marxism can be reconstituted and politically articulated."
  • Required Texts:
  • 1. Antonio Gramsci AN ANTONIO GRAMSCI READER edited by David Forgacs (Schocken pbk).
  • 2. Photocopy Set of Assigned Articles (about 25)
  • 3. Anne Showstack Sassoon, CRAMSCI'S POLITICS, 2nd ed. (U. of Minnesota pbk, 1987).
  • 4. Anne Showstack Sassoon, Editor, APPROACHES TO GRAMSCI (Writers & Readers pbk, dist. by Norton).
  • 5. Joan Cocks, THE OPPOSITIONAL IMAGINATION: Feminism, Critique, and Political Theory (Routledge pbk).
  • 6. Raymond Williams, MARXISM AND LITERATURE (Oxford U.P. pbk).
  • 7. Ernesto Laclau & Chantal Mouffe, HEGEMONY AND SOCIALIST STRATEGY: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics (Verso pbk).
  • Recommended Texts:
  • 1. Antonio Gramsci, SELECTIONS FROM THE PRISON NOTEBOOKS edited by Q. Hoare & G. Nowell-Smith (International pbk).
  • 2. Carl Boggs, THE TWO REVOLUTIONS: GRAMSCI & THE DILEMMAS OF WESTERN MARXISM (South End Press pbk).
  • Session I

    I . T.J. Jackson Lears, "The Concept of Cultural Hegemony..."
  • 2. Alan Dawley, "Workers, Capital, and the State in the Twentieth Century:
  • 3. Herbert Reid, "American Liberalism, Authority, and the Corporate State..."
  • 4. Jackson Lears, "A Matter of Taste: Corporate, cultural Hegemony in a MassConsumption Society"
  • Session II

  • 1. Sassoon, GRAMSCI'S POLITlCS, preface thru p. 104
  • 2. Forgacs, Ed., GRAMSCI READER, foreword thru p. 185
  • 3. Stuart Hall, "The Toad in the Garden: Thatcherism among the Theorists"
  • 4. Ceoff Eley, "Reading Gramsci in English..."
  • 5. Sassoon, "Gramsci's Subversion of the Language of Politics"
  • Session III

  • 1. Sassoon, CRAMSCI'S POLITICS, pp. 109-231
  • 2. Forgacs, Editor, CRAMSCI READER, 189-402. NOTE: Please make use of the "Glossary of Key Terms" at 420-431
  • Session IV

  • I. David Forgacs, "NationalPopular: Genealogy of a Concept"
  • 2. Remo Bodei, "Gramsci, Hegemony and International Relations: An Essay in Method"
  • 3. Review key ideas of Gramsci's Prison Notebooks (see 111)
  • Session V

  • 1. Sassoon, GRAMSCI'S POLITICS, pp. 249-281, "Postscript: The People, Intellectuals, & Specialised Knowledge"
  • 2. Leonardo Salamini, "The Intellectuals and the Dynamics of Historical Blocs"
  • 3. Mark E. Kann, "Political Education nd Equality: Gramsci Against 'False Consciousness"'
  • 4. Michael Walzer, "Antonio Gramsci's Commitment"
  • Session VI

  • 1. Giuseppe Vacca, "Intellectuals and the Marxist Theory of the State," 37-67 in APPROACHES...ed. by Sassoon
  • 2. Sassoon, "Hegemony, War of Position & Political Intervention
  • 3. Buci-Glucksmann, "Hegemony and Consent" and
  • 4. Sassoon, "Passive Revolution and the Politics of Reform," all 3 in APPROACHES TO GRAMSCI, Part 11, ed. by Sassoon.
  • 5. Tom Nairn, "Antonu Su Gobbu," pp. 159-179 in APPROACHES...
  • 6. R. Radhakrishnan, "Toward an Effective Intellectual: Foucault or Gramsci?" to be published
  • Session VII

  • 1. Joan Cocks, THE OPPOSlTIONAL IMAGINATION
  • Note: our focus will be on the Introduction, Part I, and the Conclusion; especially her analysis of Gramsci, Williams, Said, Foucault, and Feminist Theory
  • Session VIII

  • 1. Raymond Williams, MARXISM AND LITERATURE
  • Note: we will give particular attention to Parts I and 11, "Basic Concepts" and "Cultural Theory."
  • Session IX

  • 1. Leslie T. Good, "Power, Hegemony, and Communication Theory"
  • 2. Charles Conrad, "Work Songs, Hegemony, and Illusions of Self"
  • 3. Ceorge Lipsitz, "The Meaning of Memory: Family, Class. nd Ethnicity in Early Network Television"
  • 4. John Tirman, "Doing Time" and Marc Gunther, "Left Almost Shut Out of Political Talk Shows"
  • 5. Peter Madsen, "History and Consciousness: Cultural Studies Between Reification and Hegemony"
  • 6. Articles by Tony Bennett and Stuart Hall, in POPULAR CULTURE AND SOCIAL RELATIONS, preface thru p. 49
  • Session X

  • 1. John Stephens, "Rethinking the transition to Socialism"
  • 2. Barbara Epstein, "Rethinking Social Movement Theory"
  • 3. Harry Boyte & Sara Evans, "Strategies in Search of America: Cultural Radicalism, Populism, and Democratic Culture"
  • 4. Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, "Recasting Marxism: Hegemony and New Political Movements" (Oct. 1981)
  • 5. Chantal Mouffe, "Hegemony and the Integral State in Gramsci: Towards a New Concept of Politics"

  • Session Xl

    Laclau and Mouffe, HEGEMONY AND SOCIALIST STRATEGY

    Session XII

    Laclau and Mouffe, HEGEMONY AND SOCIALIST STRATEGY
    (NB. Many of the individual essays referred to in this course description could be easily located through J. Cammett's Bibliografia Gramsciana.) * * *

  • B. At the University of Urbino: Franco Consiglio and Giorgio Baratta are currently offering a course which is devoted lo a detailed analysis of the text of the Quaderni del carcere. Furthermore, three doctoral theses dealing with Gramsci will be presented al the university this year. The thesis by Fabio Frosini is entitled Lo statuto della filosofia nei Quaderni del carcere. The other two theses examine in detail certain Gramscian categories which occupy an especially important place in the Quaderni. The thesis by Elena Maestrelli contains an analysis of "uomo e natura" ("man and nature"), while Mario Rosati's thesis focuses on the term "hegemony." * * *
  • C. Professor George Bernstein who is a member of the faculty of the Department of Educational Foundations at Montclair State College in New Jersey (U.S.A.) sent the Newsletter the following reflections on his experience of introducing Gramsci to his students:
  • The Surprise of Gramsci

    I generally teach two graduate courses in which almost all the students are over twenty-five. One of the courses is attended by adults who have taught for many years in what may be described as "a difficult urban setting." The other course is also taken by experienced teachers, but out of the twenty-five to thirty individuals who participate in it there are usually only three or four who work in inner-city schools. Although both groups have had a good deal of personal experience on which to draw for written projects and classroom discussion, they both lack a structured view of education in the United States. This is not said pejoratively. It is simply an objective situation: we tend not to teach in such a way that our students -- regardless of their age or experience - will see the reality of social structures.

    I was surprised by the way some of them reacted when introduced to Gramsci's notion of hegemony. I was surprised because a few of them thought that Gramsci was the most genuinely enlightening figure they had come into contact with. Now, on the one hand, it may sometimes be disheartening to speak with, for example, a fifty-year-old teacher with more than twentyfive years of teaching experience who says that he had never thought of looking at school life in structured terms. On the other hand, one might consider it encouraging that a black woman in a Newark school who had never before heard the name Antonio Gramsci should come to me and say that his ideas were the most useful she had ever encountered for helping to explain some aspects of Newark's plight. To me, this experience was and continues to be a confirmation that a Sardinian writing in the 'twenties and 'thirties could be seen as alive and helpful to a middleaged black teacher who had come to Newark from the South many years ago and begun to live a life as a public school teacher in an increasingly difficult environment. Gramsci was a great surprise to her and to others whom I have taught over the last few years. I think there are still a great many useful surprises in Gramsci. The question is what might be used and how it might be used after one has been surprised.
    I have the impression that most people who teach about Gramsci do so with a "broad stroke." In my teaching, however, I think it important to ask whether his ideas have relevance in a very specific, concrete setting. For a number of the teachers with whom I work, the specific, concrete setting is Newark, New Jersey -- a city beset with all the heartrending problems which have now become characteristic of much of urban America. From my point of view, we have to ask how a teacher who is fifty years old, black and female can find Gramsci relevant to her situation and the plight of the schools. There are signs that Gramsci can help.

    George Bernstein

    Montclair State College

    Conferences

    The centenary of Gramsci's birth last year was celebrated at a conference held quite appropriately in Sardinia on 19-23 January. The conference was organized by the Casa Gramsci of Ghilarza, the Associazione Gramsci of Ales, and by the Istituto Gramsci of Sardinia at Cagliari. The conference, entitled "Omaggio a Gramsci", attracted numerous participants including, most notably, Antonio Gramsci's surviving son, Giuliano. The different sessions held at Ales, Ghilarza and Cagliari attracted large audiences. The primary motif of the conference was the concept of "autonomy" in relation to "hegemony" and "democracy". Valentino Gerratana and Francisco Fernández Buey addressed theoretical aspects of this issue in their presentations. Others, among them Umberto Cardia, approached the central theme from a specifically Sardinian perspective. Giuseppe Fiori, Antonio Santucci, Irina Grigorieva, Johanna Borek, David Forgacs, Giorgio Baratta, John Cammett and others also spoke at the conference. Faysal Darraj and Joseph Buttigieg sent papers to the conference in which they each drew attention to the importance of Gramsci's reflections on the struggle of subaltern social groups. John Cammett observed that the conference revealed the need for a new "Ordine Nuovo" to contrast the "new world order" currently being imposed upon the globe. The conference, it should be noted, took place during the first days of the Gulf War.
    A large international conference devoted to Gramsci was held in Berlin on March 22-24,1991, organized by the group centered around the journal Argument. One of the central issues discussed at length during the conference was Gramsci's concept of "civil society." Wolfgang Fritz Haug, Klaus Bochum and Sabine Kebir were among those who addressed this theme in detail. The depth of their analyses was partly the result of the intense study of Gramsci's text which they are conducting, together with other collaborators, in conjunction with their translation and editing of the complete German critical edition of the Quaderni del carcere-the first volume of which appeared in print for the first time at the conference itself. Derek Boothman and Joseph Buttigieg, who are engaged in English translations of Gramsci's writings also spoke at the conference. Another motif that received considerable attention during the conference was the "Southern Question" which was at the center of a number of presentations including that by Rolf Worsdorfer. The relevance of Gramscian categories to the analysis of the current political situation was a topic discussed by several other participants al the conference, including Anne Showstack Sassoon and Giorgio Baratta. Selected papers from this very carefully planned and well organized conference will be published shortly in an issue of Argument.
    The centenary of Cramsci's birth was also marked by an international conference held at the University of Pavia on 17-19 October 1991. The conference organized by Gianni Francioni was sponsored by the Province of Pavia, the Department of Philosophy of the University of Pavia, and the Fondazione Istituto Gramsci of Rome. The conference opened with a session devoted to the topic «Fra Storia e Politica» at which three papers were delivered: "Gramsci e il suo tempo: egemonia e filosofia della prassi" (Gramsci and His Time: Hegemony and the Philosophy of Praxis) by Giuseppe Vacca; "Gramsci e l'URSS" (Gramsci and USSR) by Irina Grigoreva; "Dal liberalismo al comunismo. Sull'evoluzione intellettuale di Antonio Gramsci" (From Liberalism to Communism. On the Intellectual Evolution of Antonio Gramsci) by Domenico Losurdo. The second session of the conference focused on the «Laboratorio Gramsciano» at which Gianni Francioni talked on "il ritmo del pensiero in isviluppo: per una lettura diacronica dei Quaderni del carcere" (The Rhythm of Thought in Its Unfolding: Towards a Diachronic Reading of the Prison Notebooks), Lucia Borghese on "Gramsci traduttore dal tedesco e il problema editoriale dei quaderni di traduzione" (Gramsci's Translations from German and the Problems of Editing the Translation Notebooks), and Joseph Buttigieg on "Come e perchè leggere i Quaderni in una edizione critica e integrale" (Why and How to Read the Prison Notebooks in a Complete Critical Edition). Others who spoke during the first day of the conference included John Cammett, Alasdair Davidson and Hiroshi Matsuda. The entire second day of the Pavia conference was given over to the «Lessico Gramsciano» at which the following presentations were made: "Progetto per un lessico informatizzato dei Quaderni del carcere" (Project for a Computerised Lexicon of the Prison Notebooks) by Renzo Martinelli and Dario Ragazzini; "Filosofia della prassi" by André Tosel; "Americanismo e fordismo" by Mario Telò; "Strutturasovrastruttura" by Giuseppe Cospito; "Nazionalepopolare" by David Forgacs; "Sovversivismo" by Antonello Mattone; "Riforma e Rinascimento" by Michele Ciliberto. The final session of the conference consisted of a round table discussion on recent contributions to the study of Gramsci's biography -- the panel, chaired by Giuseppe Vacca, included F. Saverio Festa, Giuseppe Fiori, Antonio Santucci, Aldo Natoli and Giuseppe Tamburrano.
    On 25-26 October 1991, the Movimento per la Rifondazione Comunista organized a conference on «Gramsci comunista: partito e società» which was held at the University of Bari. The discussions and interventions at the conference were centred around four major presentations: "L'intellettuale collettivo" (The Collective Intellectual) by Arcangelo Leone de Castris; "il capitalismo e lo Stato" (Capitalism and the State) by Valentino Parlato; "Etica e politica in Gramsci" (Ethics and Politics in Gramsci) by Jacques Texier, "Lotta ideale e organizzazione delle classi subalterne" (Ideal Struggle and the Organization of the Subaltern Classes) by Domenico Losurdo.
    Another gathering dedicated to the study of Gramsci's work took place in Siena on 3-5 November 1992. The conference derived its title from a passage in one of the earliest notes under the rubric "Passato e Presente" in the Quaderni: «Crisi organica: il vecchio muore e il nuovo non può nascere» (The Old Dies and the New Cannot be Born). Sponsored by the Centro Mario Rossi per gli Studi Filosofici and the Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici, the conference was one of the yearlong activities marking the 750th anniversary of the founding of the University of Siena. One major segment of the conference was held at the old Certosa di Pontigna, a few kilometers outside the city of Siena, and was devoted to a discussion of three basic themes: "Passato e presente" with presentations by V. Gerratana and J. Buttigieg; "Per un nuovo internazionalismo" (Towards a New Internationalism) addressed in the talks by G. Prestipino and G. Baratta; and "Pessimismo dell'intelligenza, ottimismo della volontà: la politica" (Pessimism of the Intelligence, Optimism of the Will: Politics) which was the topic of D. Losurdo's presentation. Another segment of the conference was a public discussion held at the University of Siena by a panel made up of Pietro Ingrao, V. Gerratana, Maria Luisa Bocca, J. Buttigieg and Mario Tronti. The third segment of the conference was centered around an audiovisual multimedia exhibit and a public discussion at the University of Siena on "L'immagine di Gramsci alle porte del Duemila: I linguaggi delle arti" (Gramsci's Image al the Threshold of the 21st Century: The Languages of the Arts). The discussion panel included Romano Luperini, Giulio Latini, David Forgacs and Marco Garzano. The exhibit was prepared by the "Ondajulik" organization. The conference was very well attended and numerous scholars made important interventions, among them Antonio Santucci, Birgit Wagner, Johanna Borek, Rita Medici, Derek Boothman, Domenico Jervolino, Enzo Santarelli, Michele Pistillo, Andrea Catone, Luigi Cortesi, Francesco Biscione.
    The centenary of Gramsci's birth was also celebrated in Bologna with an international bilingual (Italian-English) conference organized by the Istituto Gramsci of Emilia-Romagna and sponsored by the City and Province Of Bologna and by the Region of Emilia-Romagna. The title of the conference was «Antonio Gramsci 1891-1991: I Problemi sociali complessi e la psicologia. Praxis, senso comune, egemonia. / Complex Social Problems and Psychology. Praxis, Common Sense, Hegemony.» The conference which was held on 4-5 December 1991 consisted of four main sessions:
  • I. Praxis/Activity e la ricerca sui problemi sociali complessi / Praxis/Activity: Action and Research into Complex Social Problems with the following speakers: Mario von Cranach (Univ. of Bern), "Connection Between Social Representations and Goal directed Action and the Multi-level Action of Social Systems"; Yrjö Engeström (Univ. of Calif. at Davis and Univ. of Helsinki), "Analyzing Transformations on Complex Activity Systems: The Experience of Developmental Work Research"; Georg Rückriem (Berlin), "Common Sense as Center of Civic Society and the Concepts of 'Sense' and 'Meaning'"; Dario Romanop (Univ. di Torino), "Attività e struttura del tempo quotidiano."
  • II. II sensocommune/le rappresentazioni sociali nel contesto degli attuali mutamenti storici /Common Sense/Social Representations against the Background of Current Historical Changes with the following speakers: Serge Moscovici (Ecole des Haute Etudes, Paris), "In Search of the Lost Common Sense"; Guglielmo Bellelli (Univ. di Bari), "La natura sociale delle rappresentazioni e il consenso"; Uwe Flick (Technische Univ., Berlin), "Social Models of Common Sense and Everyday Knowledge"; Dmitry Leont'ev, "How is Common Sense Lost: The Phenomenon of the 'Old Thinking' from the Viewpoint of the Psychology of Weltanschauung".
  • III. "La Formazione del Uomo"/lo sviluppo del individuo: dopo Piaget e dopo Vygotsky e Leont'ev / "La Formazione dell'uomo"/The Development of the Individual: after Piaget and After Vygotsky and Leont'ev with the following speakers: Willem Doise (Univ. Of Geneva), "Multilevel Analysis of Individual Development"; Felice Carugati (Univ. di Bologna), "Dalle routine della vita quotidiana alla costruzione sociale degli strumenti cognitivi"; Marisa D'Alessio (Univ. di Roma), "La costruzione dell'infanzia: rappresentanza e comportamento"; Bernd Fichtner, "'L'educazione e la formazione dell 'uomo': Lo sviluppo storico di un paradigma europeo e il concetto dell'attività"; Martin Hildebrand-Nilshon (Freie Univ. Berlin), "Was the Renaissance Man a Competent Baby? Reflections on the Historical Construction of Concepts and Findings in Developmental Psychology"; Maria Serena Veggetti (Univ. di Roma), "Trasformazione dell'esistente e attività dell'apprendimento."
  • IV. "Egemonia come direzione culturale: le idee, i fatti della politica e la psicologia / Hegemony as Cultural Leadership: Ideas and Facts in Politics and Psychology" with the following speakers: Piero Amero (Univ. di Torino), "Idee e persone della politica: un contributo della psicologia sociale"; Rita Medici (Univ. di Bologna), "Considerazioni su volontà, volontà collettiva e prassi in Antonio Gramsci"; Boris Velichkovski (Moscow State Univ.), "Quo Vadis of Soviet Psychology"; Giuseppe Vacca (Univ. di Bari) "Egemonia e filosofia della prassi."

  • «Gramsci e l'ltalia» was the general theme of the international conference held at Urbino on 24-25 January 1992. The first session of the conference was dedicated to the topic "Gramsci e la cultura italiana contemporanea" and included the following presentations: D. Losurdo, "il marxismo di Gramsci"; G. Prestipino, "Gramsci e l'idealismo italiano"; A. Leone De Castris, "L'antiCroce"; D. Boothman, "Gramsci e la letteratura del la modernità& quot;; M. Finocchiaro, "Gramsci e Gaetano Mosca"; C. Rolfini, "Gramsci e la riforma intellettuale e morale"; U. Carpi, "il problema 'storia d'ltalia'." At the second session, which was entitled "Gramsci e la tradizione socialista", the main speakers were F. Bertinotti on Gramsci, the trade unions and democracy; R. Giacomini on Italian socialism and the first world war; D. Di Iasio on Gramsci, the Italian Socialist Party and the October Revolution; R. Cerrato on the Catholic question; and A. Catone on Gramsci, Labriola and the socialist tradition. On the second day of the conference a session was held on "Gramsci e le origini del comunismo italiano" at which the following papers were presented: L. Canfora, "Gramsci e Togliatti"; M. Martelli, "Gramsci e i consigli di fabbrica"; G. Baratta, "Aspetti della ricognizione nazionale in Gramsci"; A. Santucci, "Politica e cultura nelle 'Lettere"'; A. Burgio, "Gramsci dirigente politico e il partito"; R. Medici, "Alcune considerazioni sul giacobinismo in Gramsci" and G. C. Marino on "La questione meridionale." The concluding session of the conference consisted in a panel discussion chaired by G. Baratta with the participation of Gaetano Arfè, J. Buttigieg, Sergio Garavini, Enzo Santarelli and Paolo Volponi.

    News From Other Societies and Associations

    In December 1991, the Associació Catalana Antonio Gramsci was formed at a meeting held in Barcelona. Artur Obach, writing on behalf of the newly formed Society, kindly sent the IGS the following information: . . . the Associació Catalana Antonio Gramsci was founded at a meeting which took place on 18 December in Barcelona. Its statutes declare that, among other things, the purpose of the association is the study and dissemination of the thought of Antonio Gramsci and it intends to foster, as one of its activities, the possibility of exchanges with other entities which in some form or another are concerned with Gramsci's work and thought.
    A Coordinating Committee was formed at the meeting; its members are: Ignacio Alvarez Dorronsoro, Juan Ramon Capella, Francisco Fernándo Buey, Ferran Gallego, Artwo Obach, and Joan Tafalla.
    We are now making plans for a General Assembly meeting in late February or early March, by which time we hope to have completed the formal inscription and registering of the association.
    In the meantime, the coordinating committee has set as its main goal the dissemination of information about this initiative among all those individuals who might be interested so that, by the time of the general assembly, we would have a large and significant base.
    We will keep you informed about the development of our activities. Looking forward to future contacts, we send you our warmest greetings.
    Further information can be obtained from: Associació Catalana Antonio Gramsci; Ronda St. Pere, 44 Pral 2a; 08010 Barcelona.
    * * *
    The IGS recently received from the Associazione Antonio Gramsci di Ales (in the province of Oristano in Sardinia) a detailed account of its current activities and plans. The Associazione Gramsci was formed in February 1990 as a cultural society whose interests and activities are inspired by but not limited to the study and dissemination of the Gramscian legacy. One of the projects being launched by this association should be of great interest to all members of the IGS. This project --Progetto Biblioteca Gramsciana-- is designed to construct a library devoted entirely to writings by and about Gramsci. The goal is to collect under one roof all the Italian and foreign editions of Gramsci's writings as well as all the items listed in J. Cammett's Bibliografia Gramsciana. The task of overseeing this project has been entrusted to Luigi Manias who will be assisted by members of a local youth organization who have received training in librarianship and archival studies. Many technical aspects of the project have already been discussed. However, the success of this project depends heavily on the cooperation and generosity of the editors and authors who have produced books and articles by and about Gramsci. Everyone who has published work on Gramsci is invited to donate one or (preferably) two copies of it to this project. Those unable to do so may still be of help by arranging for their publishers to make the relevant books available at a significant discount. Please make sure to contact: Luigi Manias, via Amsicora 19, 09091 Ales (OR), ITALY.
    * * *
    An organization not primarily or directly concerned with Gramsci but probably of interest to a significant number of Gramscian scholars is the Internationale Gesellschaft für dialektische Philosophie-Societas Hegeliana. This international society (founded in 1981) seeks to promote interdisciplinary research aimed at a critical analysis of society. The study of Marx and Hegel and their relationship is at the basis of the studies promoted by this society. In fact, one of the central concerns of the Societas Hegeliana has been the relationship between the French Revolution and classical German philosophy. The past work of the society (the "Annalen" as well as the conferences held during the past few years) foregrounds the figure of Hegel as theoretical inheritor of the French Revolution. On the terrain of cultural struggle, the philosophical and theoretical efforts of the Societas Hegeliana are directed at the liberation of Hegel from the prejudiced and tendentious readings which have consigned him to the conservative (and even, perhaps, to the reactionary) tradition. The emphasis on the Hegel-Marx nexus, furthermore, stands in opposition to those approaches (including the ones inspired by traditional interpreters of Hegel) which have the effect of detaching Marxism from dialectics and historicism. Within this context, Gramsci's figure is emblematic since his work constitutes an original elaboration of the theoretical legacy of critical Marxism and draws upon the sources of the French Revolution and classical German philosophy (and Hegel, in particular). There are ample reasons for anticipating collaboration on various levels between the members of the Societas Hegeliana and the IGS. The next international conference of the Societas Hegeliana will be held at Ischia on 13-16 May 1992. The conference title will be: «La fatica del concetto. Hegel, Marx e l'analisi critica della società.» The presiding committee of the Societas Hegeliana is made up of: Domenico Losurdo, Manfred Bahr, Juha Manninen, Shlomo Avineri, Hans Heinz Holz, Reinhard Lauth, Georges Labica, Teodor Oiserman, Hans Jorg Sandkühler. For further information about the Societas Hegeliana and its activities contact Alberto Burgio, via Colombo 3, 27100 Pavia, Italy (Tel. 038232618).

    Multimedia: Audiovisual materials on Gramsci

  • 1. In 1989 the Archivio Audiovisivo del Movimento Operaio e Democratico conducted a survey of all film materials related to Gramsci. This work led to the production of a video (60 minutes) which consists of selections from a variety of films and documentaries. This video-anthology was selected and put together by Antonio Santucci and can be obtained in cassette form directly through the Archivio Audiovisivo (via degli Sprovieri 14; 00125 Rome) or from major bookstores such as Rinascita in Rome.
  • The Archivio Audiovisivo is also the distributor of two other videos dealing with Gramsci. These two videos contain the filmed oral testimonies of, respectively, Battista Santhià (Lezione di storia -55 min.) and Gustavo Trombetti (In carcere con Gramsci -25 min.)
  • 2. The Intercultural Association "Ondajulik" (via della Consulta 50; 00184 Rome) has dedicated its first year of activities to Antonio Gramsci. "Ondajulik" has already produced a number of videos:
    • Ritornando a Ghilarza (15 min.) by Valentina Amico and G. Baratta-based on a feast organized by Sardinian emigrants in the German industrial city of Wolfsburg
    • Frammenti (30 min.) by Giulio Latini-a selection of Gramscian texts read during a crossing by sea from Civitavecchia to Olbia in Sardinia. (Latini is the author of an earlier video, Caro Delio. Caro Julik (20 min.) set in Formia in which Gramsci's son, Giuliano, reads selections from his father's letters)
    • A teatro con Gramsci e Dario Fo (45 min.) by V. Amico and G. Baratta-featuring Dario Fo in a dramatic treatment of Gramsci. This video was prepared under the aegis of the Dipartimento Scuola Educazione of RAI and will be soon shown on Italian TV.
  • "Ondajulik" has also assembled an audiovisual multimedia exhibit entitled "L'immagine di Gramsci alle porte del Duemila." The exhibit is constructed out of a large diversity of photographs, designs, graphics, posters, prints, films, videos and audio tapes. The materials were gathered from a number of different sources including RAI TV and Radio, the Fondazione Istituto Gramsci of Rome and the Istituto Ernesto de Martino (via Melzo 9; 20109). Cesare Bermani, Franco Coggiola and Mimma Paulesu had produced for Istituto Ernesto de Martino an audio tape on Gramsci; this tape is obtainable with their book Gramsci Raccontato published by Edizioni Associate (via del Biscione 10: 00186 Rome). RAI has given "Ondajulik" the rights to distribute in videocassette the filmdocumentary Gramsci l'ho visto così (60 min.) which was made for (and transmitted by) RAI in 1988 by Gianni Amico e G. Baratta. The film gathers a number of testimonies by individuals who worked with or had contact with Gramsci and it examines the connections between Gramsci's work and the current world scene. Many of the materials mentioned above are obtainable directly from "Ondajulik" in three separate videocassettes: (I) Gramsci l'ho visto così: (2) Frammenti. Ritornando a Ghilarza. and Caro Delio. Caro Julik: (3) A teatro con Gramsci e Dario Fo. Each videocassette is obtainable for $25 or 30.000 Lire.

    IGS Members' Notes

    IGS members are strongly encouraged to write to the editors about those aspects of their current work and projects which would be of interest to the readers of the Newsletter. The editor has requested and received the following information from two current IGS members.
    Maurice Finocchiaro, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of NevadaLas Vegas, has made many contributions to Gramscian studies. His latest two books deal directly and extensively with Gramsci:
    Cramsci critico e la critica (Rome: Armando, 1988). This is a critical examination of some key critiques by Gramsci found in the Prison Notebooks and some of the critiques of Gramsci by some major modern authors. The former involve Croce's philosophy, Bukharin's sociology, Machiavelli's politics, and Mosca's political theory; the latter critiques involve the works of Luciano Pellicani, Joseph Femia, Walter Adamson, and Leonardo Paggi. What ties the two parts together is the concern to use Gramsci and Gramscian studies for the development of some ideas in the general methodology of criticism.
    Cramsci and the History of Dialectical Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988). This is a critical examination of Gramsci's Prison Notebooks and a historical illustration of the nature of dialectical thought. A key element of the deep structure of the Notebooks is the concept of dialectic, understood methodologically as a way of thinking which is essentially identical to the approach discernible in Croce, Bukharin, and Hegel. These three thinkers provide the substantive content for Gramsci's use of a dialectical approach to the problem of evaluating Marxism. The examination of all four thinkers is itself an exercise in the dialectical methodology of textual interpretation.
    Renate Holub has recently completed a book which will be published in June 1992 by Routledge in England and the United States. In this book, Antonio Gramsci: Beyond Marxism and Postmodernism, Holub seeks to reclaim Gramsci from classical Marxism, and instead places him in the broad European critical context-alongside the Frankfurt School, phenomenology, and sociolinguistics. This book points to Gramsci's affinities with the cultural theories inscribed in the critical theory of the Frankfurt School (Horkheimer, Bloch, Brecht, Benjamin). It also establishes affinities between Gramsci's linguistic and phenomenological forms of knowledge. Placing Gramsci in this broader context evokes the immense conceptual and methodological complexity of his work, a complexity Holub discusses in terms of "differential pragmatics." It is this very complexity which is, the author claims, relevant today when constructing our own critical theories.

    The Loss of Two Friends

    The International Gramsci Society has lost one of its founding members: José Aricó, died in Buenos Aires in August 1991. Aricó's widely known work attracted the admiration and appreciation not only of Gramsci scholars but also of everyone with an interest in Latin American political thought and practice. His contributions greatly enriched the development of Marxist democratic politics in the subcontinent. He will be remembered for his valuable published work as well as for his organizational skills, his initiatives and above all for the selfless help and friendship he extended to his colleagues and students. In some of his recent work, Aricó demonstrated why and how Gramsci's ideas continue to play a significant role in the current political and cultural scene. Of special importance in this regard is his book, La cola del diablo. Itinerario de Gramsci in America Latina (Buenos Aires: Puntosur editores, 1988).
    * * *
    Until his death on 29 April 1991, Gustavo Trombetti was one of the very few-and certainly the most important-living links with Antonio Gramsci. Trombetti was born in Bologna in 1905 and al the age of fifteen, when he had his first job as a waiter, he joined the Socialist Youth Federation. In 1921 he became a member of the Communist Party and nine years later secretary of its Bologna section. Clandestine party duties required him to spend time abroad and when he returned lo Italy in 1932 he was arrested, tried before the Fascist regime's Special Tribunal and sentenced to ten years in prison. While he was serving his sentence at Turi di Bari, the prison authorities asked him to assist Gramsci who was in extremely poor health. For nine months Trombetti and Gramsci shared a cell at the Turi prison. When Gramsci was told to pack his belongings on the eve of his transfer to the Cusumano clinic in Formia on 19 November 1933, Trombetti surreptitiously moved Gramsci's notebooks from the prison storeroom and slipped them into the trunk containing the clothes and other personal items that Gramsci was allowed to take out of prison with him when he departed for Formia. That was the last time Trombetti and Gramsci saw one another. Trombetti left prison following the amnesty of 1934 and he immediately resumed his political activity. As a communist partisan he participated in the Italian war of liberation. After the war he administered the cooperative movement in Bologna. His accounts of Gramsci's life in prison have shed important light on the material conditions and circumstances within which the prison notebooks were composed.

    Forthcoming Activities

    The IGS will be a sponsoring a session at the Socialist Scholars Conference in New York, April 24-26, 1992. The IGS session, which will be chaired by Frank Rosengarten, is entitled "'Gramsci and Us' or Why Gramsci Now?" The following papers will be presented at the session: Paul A. Bové (Univ. of Pittsburgh), "Gramsci After the Party"; Kate Crehan (The New School), "Gramsci at the New School in 1992"; and Evan Watkins (Univ. of Washington), "Gramsci 'R Us." Joseph Buttigieg will give a brief response to the papers and there will be a general discussion. The principal idea for this topic is inspired by the excellent use which Stuart Hall (in his essay "Gramsci and Us") makes of Gramsci in his analysis of Thatcherism. The session is intended to explore those aspects of Gramscian thought which are relevant and useful to the analysis of the current socio-political, economic and cultural situation in the United States. For information about the Socialist Scholars Conference contact: Mr. R. L. Norman Jr., CUNY Democratic Socialists Club, Room 801, 33 West 42nd Street. New York, NY 10036.
    A forthcoming international conference that should be of interest to IGS members is being organized by the editorial group of the journal Rethinking Marxism which has published, over the years, many important essays on various aspects of Gramsci's ideas and categories. The conference -- «Marxism in the New World Order: Crises and Possibilities» -- will be held on 12-14 November 1992 at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts. The conference will explore how Marxist theories can meet the economic, cultural, theoretical, and political challenges of the new world order. The organizers regard the conference as an occasion to engage in a collective effort to meet the challenges of our time: to question critically in order to develop further Marxian theory; to reflect on 'really existing socialism'; to analyze the economic, military, political and cultural hegemony of capitalism in the new world order; and to celebrate, however critically, the ideals of socialism. The IGS is making arrangements with the organizers to sponsor one or two sessions at the conference. Members who are interested in participating in these sessions are urged to propose topics for the sessions and/or for individual presentations -- submit all such proposals in writing to Joseph Buttigieg no later than 30 June 1992. For more information about this conference contact Antonio Callari, Dept. of Economics, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA 17604 (Tel.: (717) 291-3947; Fax.: (717) 399-4413.

    IGS

    Honorary President
    Valentino Gerratana
    Provisional Committee:
    John Cammett (President), 905 West End Avenue, New York, New York 10025 (Tel.: (212) 316-2613)
    Giorgio Baratta (VicePresident), Piazza I. Nievo 5, 00153 Rome Cel.: (06) 5894937)
    Frank Rosengarten (Vice-President), 160 East 84th Street, New York, New York 10028 Tel.: (212)879-4735)
    Joseph Buttigieg (Secretary), Dept. of English, Univ. of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 (Tel.: (219) 239-7226 / FAX: (219) 239-8209)

    IGS Newsletter

    Information concerning the Gramsci bibliography should be sent directly to John Cammett. On all other matters concerning the IGS Newsletter please contact Joseph Buttigieg.
    The European correspondent for the Newsletter is: Fabio Frosini, Gieselastrasse 30, l-Balin 31, Germany